Class members may sue an attorney who altered a class settlement in a smokeless tobacco class action without first notifying class members, the Fourth Circuit held in an unpublished opinion (Martin v. Ball, 4th Cir., No. 08-1757, 6/12/09)

A CAFA jurisdictional ruling -- the Eleventh Circuit held (per curiam) that the plaintiff's pleadings must establish that the amount in controversy has been met. Other Circuits had held that the defendant could produce evidence that the amount had been met through its own documentation. (Thomas v. Bank of America Corp., 11th Cir., No. 09-11143, 6/12/09).

A $30 million criminal fine in the case against two lawyers accused of bilking their clients in connection with the diet drugs litigation has been affirmed. (U.S. v. Gallion, E.D. Ky., No. 2:07-39-S-DCR, 6/17/09).